Invisible Children

Without having seen the suffering in Northern Uganda, I'm appalled frankly, it's a moral outrage to see thousands of children that have been abducted, that are maltreated, that go through the most horrendous torture by the rebel movement and also the same groups now being neglected, to some extent, by the whole international community. I can not find any other part of the world having an emergency at the scale of Uganda with so little international attention. What started out as a film-making adventure in Africa, transformed into much more, when the three young American’s (Jason Russell, Bobby Bailey, and Laren Poole) original travels took a divine turn, and they found themselves stranded in Northern Uganda. They discovered children being kidnapped nightly from their homes and subsequently forced to become fight as child soldiers. This film is dedicated to exposing this tragic, and amazingly untold story.

Even at this moment, in Uganda, Children as young as 8 are methodically kidnapped from their homes by a rebel group called the “Lord’s Resistance Army” (LRA). The abducted children are then desensitized to the horror of brutal violence and killing, as they themselves are turned into vicious fighters. Some escape and hide in constant fear for their lives. Most remain captive, and grow to maturity with no education other than life “in the bush” and fighting in a guerrilla war. Of the many ramifications that a 20 -year-long war can cause, the film “Invisible Children: Rough Cut” highlights what the community refers to as “NIGHT COMMUTERS.” We watch thousands of children “commute” out of fear, from their villages to nearby towns each night in order to avoid the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army) abductions. They sleep in public places, vulnerable, and without supervision.

I understand that a 1 hour documentary is not going to give any person the whole story, but for a group of kids who didn't have any prior knowledge of film making or of what they walked into they did a decent job. I teach world history and understand why a lot of other countries mistrust the US in many cases we have earned that mistrust. However, I find it interesting that this review only reflects the views of the educated of that country. Those able to pull themselves up and get themselves out through education are the ones saying that no one needs help from an outside source. I have no idea what the people quoted in this article had to do in order to get themselves out of that situation. I applaud them for working on behalf of their country. My rebuttal however is this, the kids that don't have any kind of knowledge or skills to get out of the situation need help. I know a few of them, I got to work with one gentleman in particular at a camp for kids with special needs. He was a child soldier who had been abducted at age 9 and when he was 12 he had been paralyzed from the diaphragm down by shrapnel from an explosion. After he had "healed" from that the LRA sent him to villages to act as a beggar and to open doors and gates for them at night. He later had one of his legs blown off from crawling over a land mine. He was left for dead and it was an American aid worker that found him. That man saved his life, so tell me do you think he cared about an industrial white savior complex? I'm not denying that is exists I'm questioning if it does more harm than good.

I do not agree with meddling in other people's politics, I do however have an issue with turning a blind eye to other's suffering. There are more programs that are directed at rehabilitation, education, and job training that IC has created than the 2 bills congress passed allowing for military force. I am all for giving people the tools they need to create a better world for themselves, but to those who advocate a complete hands off approach to this and other cases of mass genocide I ask how has the Ugandan government and grass roots campaigning worked? This war is the longest running war in Africa to date and Kony as well as his inner circle are clearly not interested in peace.

I know that we as a nation have made serious and damaging infringements on other nations, but if offering a hand to aid those who want peace in their country is wrong or symptomatic of industrial savior attitudes then what is right? Ignorance? Isolationism? Or perhaps pointing the finger at the countries themselves and demanding that they get themselves straight while out gunned and out manned? I personally would rather risk being the "pushy" American than walking by someone who is dying and doing nothing because that person happens to be from a different country. Where you live shouldn't determine whether you live.

I know where these kids are going in the united states, my problem is they are very powerful people. Try listening to kids screaming underneath of a house that has no entrance to help them and is through another house. I searched high and low the neighborhood and most of the people living there are very different, cops, firemen look to be from other countries not to mention the mafia. I was with a mob guy for 11 years and lived at his house for 4 years they have different cops protecting them and almost ended up in a mental institution. Now I am going to college to get a degree in criminal justice so I can help. Please wish me luck the clue is under this message.

I was directed to this after watching the Kony 2012 video. After having seen both, I can be certain that this is not a simple situation. There is lot going on in Uganda. And not just Uganda. I've discovered the atrocities in Rwanda and DCR...and there are probably so many more...
If there's one thing I've learned in my research its that 1 hour of film is not going to give you the whole picture. Neither is 2 or 3 hours. The situation in Uganda has been going on for many years - and a 1 hour documetary is not going to give you the whole picture. It does however, give you something to grab onto, and investigate further. Part of the problem with us in the "Western World" is that we are fed with a lot of useless mind-numbing information. If you want to find out the truth - you have to seek it.
The fact that so many people are moved by this particular subject is truly inspiring - that in esscence shows us that we are still human. However, what I am weary about is taking action in the right way, especially in terms of sending money. I am still contemplating, analysing and thinking out the best way to do this.
I am very thankful to these filmakers for opening my eyes even more.

The voices of Africans -
• Ethiopian writer and activist Solome Lemma writes that she is disturbed by the "dis-empowering and reductive narrative" evidenced in Invisible Children's promotional videos: "[It] paints the people as victims, lacking agency, voice, will, or power. It calls upon an external cadre of American students to liberate them by removing the bad guy who is causing their suffering. Well, this is a misrepresentation of the reality on the ground. Fortunately, there are plenty of examples of child and youth advocates who have been fighting to address the very issues at the heart of IC’s work." Update: Here's another from Lemma on "Seven steps for critical reflection." She urges those concerned about human rights in Africa to "think before you give."
Award-winning Nigerian-American novelist and photographer Teju Cole published an inspired set of tweets today on sentimentality toward Africa by Americans. Ethan Zuckerman gathered them here, and Alexis Madrigal did the same here. "From Sachs to Kristof to Invisible Children to TED, the fastest growth industry in the US is the White Savior Industrial Complex," Cole writes. "The white savior supports brutal policies in the morning, founds charities in the afternoon, and receives awards in the evening."
Musa Okwonga, a " football writer, poet and musician of Ugandan descent," writes in an Independent op-ed: “I understand the anger and resentment at Invisible Children’s approach, which with its paternalism has unpleasant echoes of colonialism. I will admit to being perturbed by its apparent top-down prescriptiveness, when so much diligent work is already being done at Northern Uganda’s grassroots... Watching the video, though, I was concerned at the simplicity of the approach that Invisible Children seemed to have taken."
TMS Ruge, the Ugandan-born co-founder of Project Diaspora is pissed. He says he wants to "bang my head against my desk" to "make the dumb-assery stop." writes, "It is a slap in the face to so many of us who want to rise from the ashes of our tumultuous past and the noose of benevolent, paternalistic, aid-driven development memes. We, Africans, are sandwiched between our historically factual imperfections and well-intentioned, road-to-hell-building-do-gooders. It is a suffocating state of existence. To be properly heard, we must ride the coattails of self-righteous idiocy train. Even then, we have to fight for our voices to be respected."
Semhar Araia, founder of the Diaspora African Women's Network (DAWN), is based in Minneapolis and is of Eritrean descent. DAWN "develops and supports talented women and girls of the African diaspora," and is focused on African affairs. In an opinion piece at the Christian Science Monitor titled "Learn to Respect Africans," Araia writes of Invisible Children: "They must be willing to use their media to amplify African voices, not simply their own. This isn’t about them."
At National Geographic, a guest essay by Anywar Ricky Richard, a former child soldier of the Lord’s Resistance Army, and director of the northern Ugandan organization Friends of Orphans. Richard writes of perceptions of Invisible Children in northern Uganda, where the group has had a presence for some years, "They are not known as a peace building organization and I do not think they have experience with peace building and conflict resolution methods. I totally disagree with their approach of military action as a means to end this conflict."
Dayo Olopade, a Nigerian-American journalist who is writing a book on the connection between disruptive technology and African development, wrote an opinion piece for the New York Times: "The mundane march of progress in poor countries is what 'awareness' campaigns often miss. And when, as in this case, success is determined by action from outside the region, cries of a new imperialism should be taken seriously. Few international NGOs working in Africa define success properly — as putting themselves out of business. Invisible Children seems no better."

Well written, right on. From what I see, I would not want the US interfering in my problems until asked and then only after oh, I don’t know, maybe finding out what is needed from the people in charge.
It is a very real concern, based on MANY episodes of the US working toward becoming an empire-of the US re-arranging events to eventually benefit large corporations.Oh, I meant, the US working to keep the peace and protect us from others folly, to assist and help other countries.That is the propaganda sold to us.
I would even question, why do you care? Sadly, most of the time it is to set up a system that will allow those businesses to use the country in turmoil to make money.Simple, cold hard truth that is documented.
There are good people and those who truly want the best for others-but we sure are quick to decide what that is for others.It is part of our culture to look at a problem and believe we can fix it.
I know that I enjoy many things because many people fought and died. I am indebted to them and try to live with an appreciation for all I have. I try to help others in my work and volunteerism. I make a distinction between Americans with true values and those who exploit any one to make a buck.They are destroying the US as well as other places in the world. That is a shameful fact.
I know that racism is alive and well, I know we have and will continue-I hope- to evolve into a society that stops using appearance as the marker for character or abilities. We do it with money, titles, academics, etc. We believe we are smart, and really we are infants.
I LOL at the the statement”To be properly heard, we must ride the coat tails of the self righteous idiocy train.” I laughed because it is a pin point defined accurate statement.
The fact that an article is actually titled,”Learn to respect Africans” Is so telling of how much further we have to go in evolving into the society we would want.And this is a widely published magazine, I assume with informed, talented staff. They missed the mark on that one,eh?
And to Mr.Richard,yep, anyone who believes taking up arms as a solution, they are definitely NOT skilled in peace building and conflict resolution. No matter what they tell you, that should not enter any discussion of true conflict resolution and building a positive presence to benefit an area. I just learned about this-was totally unaware-and it makes sense. If you want to weaken a group of people, create a situation that will polarize them. That causes them to distrust their neighbor and be willing to kill them. The area, the country, will be destroyed-obviously-but the aftermath of mistrust goes on for years after it has been rebuilt.That will further impair efforts to build, solve problems, etc. Pretty cleaver way to defeat your enemy, eh? So, tell any one suggesting that to take a hike.
Teju Cole is, I am so sad to say, absolutely correct. See, Many Americans give to charity, know our country has given to causes, look at the lives that have been lost helping other countries and they wonder why do they hate us? I think more of us are becoming aware of why, but there are many still who do not understand.
The US has no business giving public funds to another country when we are struggling. We,the 99%. The powerful, the wealthy and sadly, a lot of our elected officials, continue to believe we can do this.It is great if you are part of the group not affected by the reality of the situation, it makes no sense if you are. If they want to give from their own large pot, that is admirable. Just don’t take any from taxes. And there are enough very wealthy in the US-and world wide-to affect a change.And if I or any one wants to give-great. I do believe I receive much more than I ever give and always keep any contribution as anonymous as possible, because, as you say, it is not about me, it’s about the situation
I hope you are able to make yourselves heard. To firmly state that you can work out your own problems, thank you very much for the offer of help. That is real power and the message it sends to all, especially those young people coming up, is invaluable.
Good luck to all and thanks for writing your piece. It truly was a powerful message to me and started some soul searching. THAT’S where change starts

Joan Ellen Zehrt
- 03/11/2012 at 01:58

KONY2012 does not educate you on the conflict and the earlier videos do not represent what is happening in Uganda today. In deed these videos are the perspective of three inexperienced college kids. To be educated one has to look beyond the level presented to a five year old. This video shifts the mission of Invisible Children from education to military intervention - in a direction that Ugandans do not support. Being naive is not being aware.

Why do you prefer to refer to them as "three inexperienced college kids" instead of as three human beings who care? Three human beings who were moved by what they unexpectedly walked into, and covered in an honest documentary, and a real good one. For their age, if you can judge people by their age to begin with, they did more than a good job with that documentary. You do not use this space to discuss the Rough Cut film they made. Instead you use it to bring them down. To break them down with words from others. Shame on you.

annieeem
- 12/24/2012 at 22:41

Always do your own critical thinking and research into what is presented ANYWHERE. That in itself, will help to take back some of the power that has been taken from many. Don’t be naive enough to believe something just because someone says so. There is no reason not to take time-I am not talking about a dissertation here-and do a minimal amount of research on an issue. The internet has assured us that ease. And look at a variety of respected news sources, find a University site that you can look at professional public papers. etc.
We are educated enough and have plenty of resources that there should never be an excuse to EVER take one source as right.

Vanessa Cormier
- 03/10/2012 at 15:16

I think public awareness to this problem through social media is incredible. whether or not these people are truly educated on the conflict, it is spreading the word, which is exactly what the goal is for kony 2012. Of course there are going to be people who have supported invisible children since the beginning, but rather than have a negative outlook on the huge public attention the Kony 2012 video is getting (people don't know what they are supporting, they only like it because their friends do, etc.) be thankful that a message so powerful is going viral. I truly believe that awareness causes change, maybe not everyone knows in depth background on the problem in Uganda, but the fact that they are "liking" something on Facebook, or posting a link to the video, causes awareness, and that may be just what society needs to make drastic changes in the world we've created.

The only way to stop this and I know this video is dated, but I am going to start excepting donations, so we can hire "Blackwater" to go in there and rid this country of this cancer. Send your donations to me and after a small administrative free, I will hire Blackwater or maybe the another private security company, and it will be put up for bid, to rid this country and countries, of these rebels. I will call it "Feed the Children", no that one has been taken. It will be called, "Free the children".

Thank you so much from the both of my heart. Thank you for being the voice of this thousands of children. Thank you. The change is coming more than ever is coming. Hope the only thing we have to see change. : )

What pisses me off is all these people that say "seen a video on youtube and instantly become and activist". No, you are wrong. Mariah you are wrong because facebook is a platform for us all to share beliefs and opinions. The simple fact that people are responding to this on a huge scale is because they CARE about it. They havent become "activists" just because of a video, these people are showing the world that they care. And for some people, the only way that they know how to do this is to voice their opinions on a social networking site. Where is better to do this? 800million users.

I love this documentary, I watched it when i was in the 7th grade. What i don't quite understand is now that Facebook is involved everyone wants to act like they are concerned just to be apart of the trend and I don't agree with that....does it really take Facebook to make people realize that theres some disgusting things happening to kids in other countries, everyone knew it was out there but no one wanted to do anything about it. why is it that now, since Facebook is involved, so many people now seem concerned.

This has been going on for YEARS and now all of a sudden people decide to care.

It just aggravates me that no one gave a **** until they seen their friends joined the kony 2012 group.

Basically what i am trying to say is get out there and do something about it, liking a page on Facebook does not show you care.

I purchased my green bracelet in 2007 and haven't taken it off since, because everyday I look at it and pray for those children. I don't think that i am any better than anyone who likes that page on Facebook.

I'm just rambling now, point of my story is ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS!!
Do something.

Hi mariah, yes we all know that really bad things happen in the world but some ppl try to ignore it and live their lives not trying to give a crap what other ppl are suffering if facebook is helping to make ppl pay more attention to this problem and actually do something about it I think thats great! better late than never and you may say you dont think your better than anyone but on the contrary i think you are because you genuinely care. God bless you

annieeem
- 12/24/2012 at 22:51

Actions like putting on a bracelet? How admirable of you to purchase that and never take it off. Oh come on, this is NOT a problem everyone was aware of, and if-in all it’s imperfections-it allows more people to become aware-how can it be bad?
I think prayer has more power than many know, so you and I agree on that point.I just think that your anger is misdirected and will not help to rally others to your cause. You can pray all you want, but if you judge others and are angry because everyone needs to see everything your way,you are in a self defeating mode.
Actually, you are acting the way many others view Americans-pushy, not able to consider others opinions, narrow vision that is usually only concerned with what they believe and want.

Alex D. J. Black
- 02/22/2012 at 18:30

This documentary was made in 2004, when the LRA was ravaging Northern Uganda. Thanks to a number of initiatives and military assistance brought about by President Obama, they have been pushed out of Uganda, and now operate as splinter groups in Southern Sudan, the Central African Republic, and in the north east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They still carry out abductions and attacks in these areas, usually 2-3 times a week - the long and short of it is that whilst this documentary is out of date, and significant strides have been made towards improving the situation; there is still a lot that needs to be done, and your support can still have an impact for the better,

Definitely a good documentary, meant to open our eyes about the problems in Uganda. Even though this documentary dates from 2006 and the Lord's Resistance Army (the rebel's army) is active since 1987 the problems are not resolved yet. Congrats to the guys who made this movie and to the ones who are involved in the Invisible Children movement.

How can people just coment on wether or not this was a good documentary, thats not the point. It's meant to raise awarness about a war that has going on for far to long. WHERE'S OUR HUMANITY these children have been suffering for the past 25 years and no one has stepped up to help them, except these guys who aren't just asking for your money but actually have a plan. So sit in your comfortable home and debate how bad it actually is in Africa or help spread the word and maybe donate a few dollars yourself, it really isn't that complicated. I'm 15 and have been supporting IC for the past 2 years

Even if you were to help some of these children, to have their elders hand over a weapon to them which would certainly give them a sense of power you can see it in their faces, for they have nothing else. Whats left for them but perhaps have them stearlized.
Pepsi alone is worth 225 billion dollars, and their going to invest 25 Billion in China (Forbes), for their soda pop, steping right over these children that don't even appear unkind at all, and worth a lil better life. If they have no skill to grow food or raise livestock and simply multiply with no birth control, it's up to their government to mend and survive. Put a pepsi plant there. but I'm not an expert.

Thanks, allthough this sounds strange. I red the book " Lost boys" and now I saw this documentary and I am schocked again.
Lots of respect for the makers of this film. Young boys who had the guts to go for this adventure. You made an impressive film

"This could never happen in America." - that statement is not necessarily true. People sleep on the streets too. We in the west share a lot of the same issues as people in Africa, but on another level. You know, there's "different degrees of hell."